Michael Gerald was the normal skinny clean-shaven guy with the big growling bearded
voice who helmed Killdozer, one of the original "grunge" bands back before Nirvana and Pearl Jam
changed the meaning of the word. For ten years or so, Wisconsin's Killdozer (Gerald
and two men named Hobson) played loud, heavy and slow music with lots of guitar
distortion and lyrics inspired by the foibles and problems of the Middle American
everyman. Disaster films, `70s classic rock, Walmart, serial killers: all this and MORE!
MORE! MORE! Then the Hobsons called it quits with Mr. Gerald not far behind them.
However, he was PROUD and HAPPY and NICE to let me conduct an email interview
with him. See below for proof that this occurred! (unless I made up all the responses
myself, in which case don't tell him). My questions are the bold and his answers are the
beautiful.

When you formed Killdozer, did you have that concept from the getgo? The
sleazy middle America weirdo thing? Or did you start normal and just get
really weird before you recorded the first album?

The Killdozer concept evolved (quickly) over time. For our first couple of
shows, in various basements in Madison, WI, we weren't even calling
ourselves Killdozer. As for song topics, I firmly believed in writing what
I know about, so instead of songs about hobbits or space and astronauts and
pool parties, we were inspired by the likes of Ed Gein, who was residing in
the State mental hospital just outside Madison; biker gangs that didn't own
motorcycles; old people collecting enormous piles of newspapers inside their
houses; farming; drunks; bums and bag ladies (aka "homeless people"); and
the many wonders of nature. Above all, the songs were meant to make my
friends laugh.

How did you decide on that crazy gruff voice?

I did that on just one song when we were rehearsing, and the Brothers Hobson
told me I should do it on all of the songs. I complied. Unfortunately for
me, any time I attempted to venture away from that "style," I was met with a
volley of objections. Even Butch Vig pooh-poohed the idea that I should try
my hand at actually singing, which might have something to do with the sound
of me actually singing. I cultivated my voice with beer and cigars.

Did you ever feel constricted by the parameters that you'd laid out for
the band? Was there ever a wish to branch out in any way that you felt you
couldn't without breaking the band's image?

We didn't lay out parameters so much as the parameters were foisted upon us.
As I indicated above I sometimes wanted to break free and sing in some
other style. Once or twice I actually did! (like on Lee Hazelwood's "Pour
Man" on God Hears Pleas of the Innocent or on Space 1999 on Twelve Point
Buck -- nothing gruff about that).

Musically, I believe we did branch out, but nobody seemed to recognize the
fact -- we were trapped by our image, even as we added a second guitar and
wrote and played country songs about Jesus. More importantly, we grew from
a band that wore tee shirts and sneakers to a band that wore button-down
shirts and polished leather shoes or boots.

Did you get any "pushback" from fans when first one Hobson, then the
other, cleared the deck and you kept the band going?

Some people kvetched about it, but what's a guy to do? I know, I should
have just started a new band, and in a way I did. I just hung on to the
name. If I'd started a band called Panties, things would have been quite
different. But still, people would have complained; it's in their nature.

What is this? http://www.geocities.com/renaldo_larue/killdozer

That's a fan's web site. His name is not renaldo larue. He wrote to me,
and I wrote back. I never met him and don't know who he is, but apparently
he hooked you and me together while he was at it. He has a very nice web
site devoted to Killdozer, something I think more people should take up.

Were you ever concerned that people might treat you like a "novelty" act
and not notice the cool music you were playing? Especially with all the
hilarious cover tunes? You're no "Weird Al" Yankovic! Who wants to be
"Weird Al" Yankovic?

I don't think even "Weird Al" Yankovic wants that! I'm not sure I know how
people would treat a novelty act. If they came to our shows or bought our
records, it never occurred to me to wonder why. Reviews I've read seemed,
for the most part, to notice the music and lyrics. Unless they were in the
Melody Maker. Those dudes compared us to Black Oak Arkansas and Grand Funk,
and meant it as a put down. The reviewer then admitted he'd never heard the
music of either one. What baffled me was the assertion by some that we were
musical simpletons, even as we wrote songs with changing time signatures and
other crap like that. We even played horns in the junior high school band!
The most amazing sort of critic was one who praised us adoringly early on,
but when Touch & Go left Detroit, where this critic lived, we became his
fave example of shit music. I think we took the brunt of his anger over
what he perceived as betrayal by T&G for pulling out of Wheel City. He's a
music scribe for the Village Voice now, but that's not to say he grew up.

How big did you guys get? What was your most successful period? Was it
a drag when the cheering became more sparse afterwards (if it in fact did --
if not, skip this part of the question and make something up about
debilitating drug use that you had to overcome. Thanks! - VH1 "Behind the
Music" Producers)? Or did you just figure they're a bunch of morons anyway
and they deserve their Grifters horseshit?

We made a nice living, and yes things did start to peter out. That's why we
finally got out while the getting was good. On our final tour, we kept
meeting our old loyal fans who told us such things as they had to get a
babysitter to come and see our last show. If they did that all the other
times we came to their town, or if alternatively the babysitter came to our
shows, we might still be together today. And yes, I always worked on the
assumption (or knowledge) that the people who weren't at the Killdozer show
were a bunch of morons. Especially if they went to Grifters gigs instead.

What is your connection with Alice Donut? You weren't even on the same
label as them! That's not right!

Come on, doesn't everyone and their brother want to hang with the Donut?! I
assume you mean it's not right that we weren't on the same label. We had
the good fortune to meet them, at the same time they had the good fortune to
meet us, at a disco in Berlin. Actually, we double-billed some Berlin music
festival, and then went to the disco to show the kinderkrauts a thing or two
about dancing. Rather, we showed them how to step on strangers' feet while
hopping about with a beer in hand and addressing everybody on the dance
floor as Jerry. Did you know that Germans wear BROWN leather pants? How
stupid is that?

Why did you finally close up Killdozer shop?

I wanted to pursue other interests.

Have you been playing music at all since the band ended?

I recorded a couple of guest vocals, one for La Pussygata/El Cuerpo
Exquisito, and I forgot the rest. That's all.

What do you do for a living? Is it fulfilling? STORIES!!!

I'm a tax lawyer in Los Angeles, and yes it is very fulfilling and
rewarding. Knowing that, you can't possibly really want to hear my stories.
I can tell you that my three-page personal essay about my fulfilling and
rewarding career in Killdozer got me into NYU Law School, that and a nice
letter of recommendation from Big Black's rocker turned lawyer Santiago
Durango! Now about living in Jersey City and NYC I could tell you some
stories, but you didn't ask.

Did you attract any superbizarre fans because of your subject matter?

So many that I started to consider them normal. Particularly in the upper
midwest and Pennsylvania, both places where bizarreness is genetic. It
became frighteningly clear when we solicited song lyrics for another record
that many of our fans were people we would not want to meet. We attracted
math professors too, and met them gladly.

Oh, that. I think I expressed my thoughts on a similar topic in the song
"Turkey Shoot." I knew only bad things would come when five justices of the
supreme court staged a coup, and so far it looks like I'm correct. By the
way, I still enjoy FRENCH fries and FRENCH toast and buy FRENCH beer, thank
you very fucking much. The beer's nothing special, but it's a good price.

What would you say are the, oh let's say 3-5 songs that you are most
proud of? Lyrically, musically - what do you feel were your absolute
masterpieces, and why? What really appeals to you about them?

Gates of Heaven
Fifty-Seven
The Nobbies
Sonnet (so good we recorded it twice!)
New Pants & Shirt

I'm not sure why. Horns, a good groove, sleazy beats, I think for the most
part the lyrics shine, although I wrote Sonnet originally for a creative
writing class (it's a sonnet, get it?) and the professor only gave me a C+.
He was a dickhead, and he's dead now.

Did you have a large fan base in Wisconsin? Or did people think you
were making fun of them? Did that ever happen?

We did extremely well in Wisconsin, and I would never make fun of anybody.
I just expressed scorn.

Did you use to go to Wisconsin Dells alot to see the dogs jump from
cliff to cliff?

No, but I have a postcard of it. I had bad parents who never took me to
good places like that.

How was the cheese there? Was it as good as they say?

To be frank, no it wasn't.

Did you try out for the Green Bay Packers? If not, I need to know why.

No. I hate football.

Did you think that your former producer Butch Vig kinda pussed out with that
Garbage crap? You can tell me! I won't tell him!

The dude's making money, and he's a good drummer, so who am I to judge? The
man has diverse tastes.

and finally

Have there ever been any other good bands from Wisconsin ever? Any hot
bands from Ely?

Ely is in Minnesota. I don't know if any hot bands hail from Ely. I think
Weird Al comes from Milwaukee. Appliances SFB were a good band from
Madison. That might be about it.

Reader Comments

drazy@gatecity.com
Prindle is not far from the Mark (get it?) when he states that Killdozer was one of the original "grunge" bands. And Gerald, although worthy enough from that aspect for an interview, is one of those people that I've wondered what the fuck happened to.

One of the things I've kept over the years is a copy of Your Flesh magazine from 1990. The main reason I keep it is because it contains a Killdozer tour diary from their Winter '90 tour that has some of the best road storiesdiaries I've ever read. It perfectly captured the boredom, food, and farts of what the road is like for an Indie label rock outfit. And it's filled with quotes that I remember to this day: "Why can't a Greek make a decent cup of coffee?" "Damn cold in Iowa...What a party there was! Guys and gals everywhere with a big old half barrel of Old Style in the kitchen. This is the sort of party that Easterners just don't know how to do." "A day that starts at Denny's is always a better day than one that starts at Perkins. Of course a day that starts at Waffle House is the best day of all." "The air smelled of sweat and there was enough flannel to outfit every band on Twin Tone." "What kind of candyass breed is the Eastener?" "A homeless man with an enormous dog asked me for money. I gave him all of my change and he got pissed off when he saw that it was all Canadian money. "Beggars can't be choosers," I said, having taught him a lesson." Christ, there are so many of 'em that I could type all day. BTW: I used that last one on a panhandler in Minneapolis, so thanks Michael!

The only thing the interview needed was all of the winning recipies of the Killdozer Bake Off contest. I have got a hankerin' to make the family unit some Milties.